AEW Dynamite Review - August 5, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Dark Order (Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Stu Grayson, Evil Uno, Five and Nine) def. AEW World Tag Team Champions "Hangman" Adam Page & Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and FTR

I didn't have high hopes for this after last week's mess of 10-man tag team match with Inner Circle, Jurassic Express and Best Friends. Thankfully, this was a bit better and more cohesive. Was the talk of two referees from the commentators last week just a joke? Because I only spotted one referee here, whereas there really should have been two after last week's debacle. All and all, this was an enjoyable opener that actually benefited from losing FTR and Page at one point. There's tension on the babyface side and they have me hooked on what's going to happen next.

Best Friends def. Santana and Ortiz

It dawned on me during this match that I really miss the LAX version of Santana and Ortiz from IMPACT. They've been prominently featured on AEW programming as part of Inner Circle, but it feels like they lose far more often than they win and they haven't had nearly as many memorable matches. They lost again here, but at least it looks like their feud with Best Friends isn't over based on how they trashed Trent's mom's van afterward.

Sammy Guevara Attacked Matthew Hardy

Hardy declared here that he's done with the gimmicks (for now) and that, after listening to the fans, he'll be himself for the foreseeable future. I've seen some complaints that his multiple personalities were confusing, but I don't think that was the overwhelming majority of the audience. Either way, I'm intrigued. He has been far more exciting as Broken/Woken Matt Hardy in recent years than whenever he's been himself, but then again, that was in other companies and maybe AEW will be different. The brawl that ensued between Hardy and Guevara was very well done as Guevara came away from it looking way more aggressive and intense than he was beforehand.

Matt Cardona and AEW TNT Champion Cody def. The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver)

I didn't think Cardona would go in there and suddenly be this amazing wrestler we weren't seeing when he was with WWE as Zack Ryder, but he did look great in there and had nice chemistry with Cody, which wasn't surprising in the slightest given that they're close in real life. Realistically, it shouldn't have taken them as long as it did to beat two jabronis from Dark Order, but this was a rock solid introduction for Cardona, nonetheless. Is the turn coming from Cody?

Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy Took Part in a Debate with Eric Bischoff Serving as the Special Guest Moderator

It was cool to see Bischoff make his first appearance on TNT in almost 20 years, but I'm completely fine with him not having a regular role on any wrestling program in 2020. This was a perfect use of him and I thought he played his role well. I figured this would be more fun and games from Jericho and Cassidy, but they exceeded my expectations with their exchange and I loved how Cassidy finally cut a serious promo at the end. They sold me on their rematch next week, even though I wasn't originally looking forward to it because I didn't feel it was necessary.

Big Swole def. Reba

Reba (or Rebel, whatever you want to call her) has always been terrible in the ring. Thus, this was no good. The only positive thing I can say about it was that it was kept short and sweet, but then again, I can see that angering fans who want to see more of the women in AEW, not less. I understand this was designed to further the feud between Swole and Britt Baker and it worked in that respect, but there really should have been another women's segment of some kind on this show.

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley def. Darby Allin

I love the chemistry these guys have together. I was in attendance for their first-ever encounter at a Northeast Wrestling show in June 2019 and their rematch on Dynamite later in the year was a blast as well. This was equally entertaining, though it was basically a No Disqualification match without actually having that stipulation. Allin bumped his ass off for Moxley and I really liked how Moxley's promo from earlier in the evening tied into what he did during this match. The only thing that didn't make sense was MJF interfering and attempting to cost Moxley the title but not sticking around to ensure he lost. Other than that, this was a top-notch main event.

Overall Show

Last week's Dynamite wasn't the strongest show, but this week's episode was a vast improvement in my opinion. Cardona's in-ring debut for AEW was a success, Jericho and Cassidy effectively built up their rematch for next week, the stuff with Hardy and Guevara was good, and there were some interesting developments in the tag team division. The women were shortchanged once again, however, so hopefully that's something AEW intends on working on going forward. And, no, a pointless tag team tournament airing on YouTube on Mondays isn't the answer.